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Heteropoly acids (HPAs) catalysts prove effective in waste cooking oil biodiesel production, considering their high density of Brønsted acidic sites, exhibit significant resilience to elevated levels of free fatty acid (FFA) and moisture content. However, the separation of HPA catalysts after biodiesel production is challenging due to their homogeneous catalytic nature. This study aims to develop magnetic vanadium-substituted HPAbased ZIF-8 composites to create a catalyst for biodiesel production from WCO that is more efficient and easier to separate. In this work, a range of analytical methods was utilized to characterize the catalyst, such as Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), highresolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The successful incorporation of HPA acid into the magnetite ZIF-8 nanocomposite was indicated by prominent bands in the FTIR analysis, and this formation was further validated by EDX analysis. The VSM results also revealed that the nanocomposite has good magnetic responsiveness, facilitating catalyst separation and recycling. The magnetic ZIF-8 composites functionalized with H6PV3MoW8O40 demonstrated significant potential for sustainable biodiesel production from WCO.

The evolution of drug discovery has proceeded for decades. The process has involved the invention of new theories, technologies, disciplines and medicines. These advancements play significant roles in drug discovery today as well as in the future. In this review, the important achievements of ancient Egyptian, Greek, Arabic, Indian, and Chinese medicines were discussed. Then, the development of key concepts, theories or technologies as well as breakthroughs in drug discovery research has been reviewed. Lastly, the current outlook and obstacles in drug discovery studies have been discussed in this article. This review provides an understanding of drug discovery research from a historical perspective and current contexts.

Quantitative NMR experiments are an essential part of NMR analysis, which play a critical role in component analysis and compound structure identification. Carbon atoms form the framework of organic compounds, and 13C NMR has unique advantages in organic analysis due to its wide chemical shift range, narrow spectral peaks, and broadband decoupling capability. However, the low natural abundance, low gyromagnetic ratio, and long longitudinal relaxation time of 13C nuclei hinder its wider application in quantitative experiments. In our previous work, we proposed the Q-DEPT+ pulse sequence and designed a double loop of pulse flip angle and polarization transfer time, which allows for uniform sensitivity enhancement for the three types of carbon nuclei, CH, CH2, and CH3, within a wide 1JCH range, making it suitable for quantitative 13C NMR. In this study, we further optimized the polarization transfer time and read pulse width of the Q-DEPT+ experiment by using a genetic algorithm, and replaced the 180° hard pulse in the 13C channel with a G5 composite pulse that compensates for the frequency offset effect. The optimized pulse sequence was named Q-DEPT ++. Quantitative experiments were performed on cholesterol acetate in CDCl3 by using the reverse-gated decoupling pulse sequence (zgig), Q-DEPT+, and Q-DEPT++ respectively, and the quantification accuracy and sensitivity of the three pulse sequences were compared. The results showed that Q-DEPT++ has obvious improvement in both quantification accuracy and sensitivity.

BACKGROUND Usually, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis is equipped with a closed ablation cell. It cannot be used for non-destructive analysis of the large-size samples which exceeds the size of the cell. OBJECTIVES To realize directly in situ non-destructive analysis of major and trace elements in the large-size samples. METHODS Based on the self-designed open sample collection port, combined with the gas exchange device, an open LA-ICP-MS analysis method was established. Taking the large-size ceramic disc sample as an example, samples can be directly determined for major and trace elements in an air environment without being broken. RESULTS Analyte aerosols produced by laser ablation were collected and sucked by open sample collector. The air in the aerosols was replaced via transfer tube by high purity argon in a gas exchange device, the analyte aerosols were then transferred into ICP-MS for detection. After non-destructive analyses by this method, large-size ceramic samples were broken and analyzed by traditional LA-ICP-MS. Relative deviations of most of 51 elements detected by the two methods were less than 10%. Only part of elements (such as P, Be, Sc, Y, La, Sm, Eu, Dy, Hf, W, etc.) had relative deviations higher than 20%, because of the extremely low contents. CONCLUSIONS The open LA-ICP-MS method is suitable for in situ non-destructive determination of major and trace elements in the large-size samples.

Choline containing compounds (CCCs) are a class of small molecule metabolites with important biological functions. Some CCCs can be synthesized by human body, but most of them come from daily diet. CCCs exist in milk, beans, and infant formulas additives. Chronic choline deficiency in the diet is associated with diseases such as organ dysfunction. Therefore, fast detection for CCCs is important for food research. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a noninvasive method for CCCs measurement. In this study, 1H-14N SOFAST-HMQC was used to measure the CCCs in dairy products. It was observed that CCCs detection by this method can be more selective than traditional one-dimensional 1H NMR, and the detection sensitivity per unit time was 1.5~2.0 times higher than that of the previous developed 1H-14N HSQC method.

BackgroundWe previously identified two acute kidney injury (AKI) sub-phenotypes (AKI-SP1 and AKI-SP2) with different risk of poor clinical outcomes and response to vasopressor therapy. Plasma biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction (tumor necrosis factor receptor-1, angiopoietin-1 and 2) differentiated the AKI sub-phenotypes. However, it is unknown whether these biomarkers are simply markers or causal mediators in the development of AKI sub-phenotypes.MethodsWe tested for associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms within the Angiopoietin-1, Angiopoietin-2, and Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 1A genes and AKI- SP2 in 421 critically ill subjects of European ancestry. Top performing single-nucleotide polymorphisms (FDR  T, near ANGPT2 was associated with reduced risk of AKI-SP2 (odds ratio, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.31-0.66; adjusted FDR = 0.003) and decreased plasma angiopoietin-2 (p = 0.002). Causal inference analysis showed that for each minor allele (T) the risk of developing AKI-SP2 decreases by 16%. Plasma angiopoietin-2 mediated 41.5% of the rs2920656 related risk for AKI-SP2. Human kidney microvascular endothelial cells carrying the T allele of rs2920656 produced numerically lower levels of angiopoietin-2 although this was not statistically significant (p = 0.07). Finally, analyses demonstrated that angiopoietin-2 is minimally renally cleared in critically ill subjects.ConclusionGenetic mediation analysis provides supportive evidence that angiopoietin-2 plays a causal role in risk for AKI-SP2.

We discovered a population of the Near Threatened Hume's Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) in the Ziyun County of Anshun City in 2016. Land and forestry administrators jointly proposed establishing a nature reserve for the conservation of this population. We conducted surveys and a habitat suitability assessment of this pheasant in support of the conservation strategy planning and proposed nature reserve. Our results suggest that this pheasant uses heavily disturbed, open canopy, broad-leaved forests at a certain distance to roads on northwest- to north-facing slopes. It also uses sparse canopy forests on moderate to steep slopes below elevations of 1,050 m near water. The use of heavily disturbed, open canopy forests of this pheasant population is not consistent with reports from the literature. This could be a response of this population to available disturbed habitat. This population may be part of an undiscovered population of the wildlife management units of Guangxi and Guizhou. Understanding habitat requirements of this species warrants further investigations, e.g.. genetic tests such as sequencing of mitochondrial DNA to compare with other populations and assessment of its population status, patterns of habitat use, and interactions with heavily disturbed habitats. Received IK May 2021. Accepted 27 April 2022. Key words: Bar-tailed Pheasant, disturbance, fragmentation, Maxent, Mrs. Hume Pheasant, nature reserve. [phrase omitted], The Hume's Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae, hereinafter HP) is a Near Threatened bird distributed in India, Myanmar, Thailand, and China (Bird Life International 2016). It is a National first-class protected species [...]